MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX

Gender in Abkhaz, though marked in the pronoun, which distinguishes

mascuHne/feminine in the 2nd and 3rd singular, is not marked in the noun.
The pronominal gender distinction is, of course, carried via the pronominal
markers to the verbal complex. Further, the class of human referents is
distinguished from the non-human. See Pronoun, below.
Noun
Nouns are definite or indefinite. In citation form, with an a- prefix they are
definite: e.g. a.cla 'the tree'; a,xaca 'the man'. The indefinite marker is
suffixed 'k: e.g. cla.k 'a tree'; xaca.k 'some man or other'; la.k 'a dog'.
PLURAL MARKERS
Suffixed -ca for human referents, -ka for non-human: e.g. apsa.ca
'Abkhazians'; ackun.c'^a.k 'some children'; a.cla.ka 'the trees'; cla.ka.k
'some trees'.
-aa is a collective plural marker: e.g. aps.w.aa 'the Abkhaz people'.
A numeral may be prefixed to a nominal with or without a plural marker:
e.g. with pS'
4;
ps.la. (k^'a). (k) 'the four dogs/four dogs'.
In the absence of any sort of case inflection, syntactic relationships are
expressed by affixes, supported where necessary by adverbial postpositions.
POSSESSION
Possessor precedes possessed: X's Y is expressed as X Ik Y, where Ik is the
possessive linking particle, agreeing in number and, partially, in gender with
X. See Pronoun, below.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECT
While nominals are not themselves marked, their status as subject or object
is signalled by the presence of pronominal markers in the verbal complex.
These markers are set out in the section on the Pronoun, below. Here, the
system may be illustrated by an example from Hewitt 1979:
(sara) a, x
9
c. k'^a aJ
g .
k a 0,fas. to.yt
'I give the books to the children'
where sara denotes the independent 1st
p. pronoun T; a.xa c./c a denotes
'children'; aJ^'g^k^a denotes 'books'; to is the root 'to give'; yt is the
characteristic of the finite verb, used to express the present tense; yg is the
3rd
p.
pi. indirect object marker: 'to them'; s is the 1st
p. pronominal copy of
sara T, subject of the transitive verb; and indicates the position where a
3rd
p.
non-human pronominal marker would be inserted if necessary,
referring to 'books'; here it is not necessary.
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Adjective
The adjective in Abkhaz does not differ formally from the noun. Predicate
adjectives are stative verbs. The attributive adjective usually follows its noun,
whose indefinite marker, if any, is transferred to the adjective, which may
also take the plural marker: e.g. la bzgya.k 'a good dog', a. la. (k%) bz9ya.ka
'the good dogs', psJa bzQya.k or a.la bzgya.ka.ps.ba Tour good dogs',
a. bzoya. k a 'the good ones'.
A comparative is made with the formants -aasta, -eytla, or -actos: e.g.
a.phQs a.xaca yaasta dg.harak.o.w.p 'the woman is taller than the man',
where a,phQs is 'woman', y- a pronominal marker for 3rd
p.
sing, masc,
do.harak 'tall', and -9wp is the copula. Cf yara zeg' r.eyha do.harak Q.w,p 'he
is taller than all (zeg") of them (r-)'.
Pronoun
Abkhaz has independent personal pronouns, possessive pronominal pre-
fixes, and bound personal pronominal markers.
The independent series is:
Singular Plural
1 sa(ra) ha(ra) incL
hart excl.
2 human masc. wa(ra) sa(ra) incl. s\rt excL
human fem. ba(ra)
3 human masc. ya(ra) da(ra)
human fem. la(ra)
-xata may be added to a reduplicated pronominal deixis for emphasis: e.g.
safrajs.xata 'I myself.
The reflexive pronoun is a.xo 'head'.
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POSSESSIVE PREFIXES
These are provided by the short forms of the independent series: sa, wa, etc.
in certain cases with vocalic reduction: e.g. SQ.cla 'my tree', haxla 'their tree'.
BOUND
PRONOMINAL
MARKERS
These can be grouped in three series, each with specific functions:
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
E.g. dQ.r. beyt 'they (r.) saw him (rfa)'; y.bo.r,toyt 'they (f.) give that
(y)
to you
(fern.) {boy.
*
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN
There are three degrees of distancing: the proximate form, suggesting
nearness to 1st person, is sing. a(b)r9y,pl. (ab)art; distal but within purview
of 1st and 2nd
p.
is sing. a(b)n9y, pi. (ab)ant; the second distal set, sing.
woylwobrgy, pi. wortlwobart, is used for referents beyond the purview of
either 1st or 2nd person.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN
d.arban 'who?', where d- can be replaced by other 1st slot pronominal
markers; zak
9y
'what?'; yanba 'when?'; yaba 'where?'
There is no relative pronoun in Abkhaz. A slot 1 marker + -anfo)
can be
used for a temporal relative clause; a slot 1 marker + -ax
(q)
for a locative.
An example of the latter from Hewitt (1979: 166):
sara yo.z.boyt Merab d.ax'g.n.xo a.y^no
'I see the house where Merab lives'
where sara denotes T;
yg
'it';
z>
is the pronominal subject marker T; bo.yt
'see' (finite); d. is the pronominal subject marker 'he'; axo 'where'; n is the
preverb; xo 'to live'; and a.ynd 'the house'.
Verb
Abkhaz verbs are stative (resultative) or dynamic, transitive or intransitive,
mono- or polypersonal. Monopersonal verbs are intransitive: e.g. d.ceyt 'he
went', sxeyt 'I went'. Polypersonal verbs may be either transitive or
intransitive, depending on the sense of the root and the valencies assigned to
it in Abkhaz. There is no passive voice in Abkhaz. A dynamic base can,
however, be converted to a stative by means of the stative marker -wp and
concomitant realignment involving the use of postpositional forms denoting
agency.
A causative is made by inserting pre-radical -r-: e.g. yQ.b.sd.r.qaxeyt 'I
made you do it'; where yo denotes 'it', b 'you' (fem.), sq T, r causative
formant, qa is a preverb, and ceyt 'make/do' the finite form.
COMPENDIUM
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by Routledge
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1991, 2000 George L. Campbell
INDICATIVE MOOD (PRESENT AND PAST)
Choice of marker here depends on (a) whether the verb is stative or dynamic,
and on (b) whether a finite or a non-finite form is required:
Stative finite present:
Stative finite past:
Dynamic finite present:
Dynamic finite past:
Dynamic
future (two forms
made):
are
A stative future is made with the
characteristic zaa:
The characteristic of the dynamic
perfective finite is x'alx'e:
s.t o.wp
s.t a.n
yo.z.bo.yt
sxo.yt
yg.z.be.yt
s. ce,yt
s. ca.p
s.ca.t
do.t a.zaa.weyt
s.ca.x'e.yt
'I stand', 'am standing'
'I was standing'
1 see it'
'I go'
*I saw it'
'I went'
I'll go'
(inaugurative)
'I'll probably go'
'He will be sitting'
'I've gone' (my going is over
and done with)
Five dynamic
imperfective forms (three past, two conditional) have an -n
suffix in place of the
perfective i?//: e.g. s.co.n 'I was going'; s.ca.rg.n 'I would
go', where rg is the conditional
characteristic; cf woy dQ.z.ba.r 'that one, if I
see her'.
The non-finite
correlatives of these ten finite forms take the format:
pronominal marker
+
root
(+ characteristic or aspect marker); cf yo.co 'he
who goes',
yg. ca 'he who went', yo, ca. ra 'he who will go', yo. co.
z
'he who was
going'.
IMPERATIVE
The stem is used with the 2nd
p.,
sing, or pi., subject marker if the verb is
intransitive; 2nd
p.
pi. only if it is transitive, i.e. the marker for singular
transitive imperative is zero.
The negating format -m-l-m is added to the complex to provide a
prohibitive, and -n (associated with the imperfective aspect) is added: e.g.
tQ,m.t\n 'don't you (pi.) sit'. For the negative marker, cf s.co^m 'I'm not
going', s.co.mazJ 'I was not going'.
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GEORGE L. CAMPBELL
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1991, 2000 George L. Campbell
SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
A subjunctive mood is made with the formant -aayt: e.g. yolg.aa.yt let her
(0
take it', and an inferential with 'zaa.p\ e.g. dQJta.zaa.p 'it seems he's lying
down'.
POTENTIAL
The verb a.la.ra 'to be able' is used: e.g. a,ca,ra &.S9J.o.yt 'I can go', where
a.cara is a verbal noun 'the going', marks the position of the unexpressed
3rd
p.
subject ('it'), so is 'to me', and / is a preverb; a.wa,yt > o.yt 'is
possible'.
DIRECTIONAL PRE-VERBS
For example, -aa- 'hither', -na- 'thither', -j^ V 'upwards', -/a- 'downwards'.
These are inserted in the verbal complex: e.g. yQ.b.z.aa.z.ge,yt 'I bring it for
you (fem.)', where j;^ denotes 'it', b 'you' (fem.), z(q) 'for' (postposition), z.
T, ge 'bring', and yt the finite marker.
Postpositions
There is a wide inventory of spatio-temporal postpositions, which are often
combined with directional preverbs in the verbal complex. Where required,
pronominal markers belonging to the second series are prefixed to post-
positions: e.g. s,q9nf 'from me', yQ.qsnf 'from him'.
Some examples:
at: a.t;9 'at it (a)'; avokzal a.t9 'at the station' (Russian loanword)
inside: a.y n9 cqa\ a.y ''n9 a.y n cqa 'inside the house'
behind: aJta.x'; a.yn9 aJta,x' d9,qo.wp 'he is behind the house'
above: a.X9x'; a,y''n9 a.X9x' 'above the house'
on: a.k'^c^a', a.cla a.kca 'on top of the tree'
among: r9.yn9 cqa; a.cla.ka r9.yn9 cqa 'among the trees'
Adverbs
Several affixes produce adverbs from nouns or adjectives, e.g. -n9, which
requires the root to be marked either by the neutral (non-human) pro-
nominal prefix
J9-,
or by the Series 1. pronominal marker in concord with
the verbal subject. Hewitt gives the following example:
sara ya.las.no s.n9qo.yt 'I walk quickly'
s .las.no s.noqo.yt
Word order
SOV is normal. For pronominal subject/indirect and direct object order in
the verbal complex, see Pronoun and Verb, above.
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@ 1991/2000 George L. Campbell
OF THE LANGUAGES TSBN0-415-20298-U,Sef)